I have a 92 Accord that craps out on me at random times. Does't matter if I'm on the freeway or at a stop sign, it just stops. It always starts back up no problem; sometimes it will be fine for the rest of my trip and sometimes it will die again shortly after. On occassion when I'm driving on the freeway it will kick back on by itself, but most times I can feel it down shift pretty hard before it eventually comes to a stop. I also noticed that it seems to happen quite a bit more often when the A/C or defrost are running, which is leading me to believe that it's either the belt or the A/C pump, but I'm not hanging my hopes and dreams on that. I already planned on changing the belt this weekend, but I'm wondering if I could be being mislead.

Something else of note is that I've had a leak coming from my valve cover, which I also plan on fixing this weekend, but it has become much more significant as of recently, which is also when the problems have started. I haven't seen any oil in that area, but I'm wondering if there could be some on the belt and I'm just experiencing a lot slipping?

I've seen this question posted a few times, but I haven't sen anyone come back to say what the end problem turned out to be. Any thoughts before I go to the parts store would be greatly appreciated.

 

A few things come to mind.

So testing is going to be key to solving this without spending a bunch of money.

Do you have a test light and a bit of time?

Also, when the car dies on you, what (if any) lights are on in the dash?

 

No test light.
The oil and battery lights come on and that's it. I'm not suspecting the battery. It still has a good charge and all the electronics are still running when the car quits on me.

 

No test light or volt meter - sorry, should have put that in my last post.

Going to be a bit hard to figure out without testing, I hate to tell/suggest that anyone start replacing parts without knowing.

If you had a testlight/volt meter we could test a few things to norrow it down. Or if you could/have some wires and a simple light we could tap into circuits and see what is happening.

So again please don't replace parts on any of this....here are the ideas/things in my my mind.
1) Elect part of the key switch - however your last post makes me think no based upon the lights on the dash
2) Something in the Ign system (ICM, Ign coil, ect)
3) Main relay (this sends power to the fuel pump....so if it gets hot and stops working, well no power to the fuel pump or engine).

EDIT: be sure all of the connections on the battery are clean and tight.

 

Turns out the distributor was bad. I wouldn't have guessed it since I just replaced it back in May.

 

Bad luck. But let us in on where you got the distributor.
Like: was it Autozone or Oreilly Car Parts store?

 

The igniter in the distributor usually go to craps. Another one is the main relay up under the dash.

 

The distributor was from autozone, but after 2 days the car crapped out again. I changed the a/c belt and power steering belt, which I already had planned on doing, on Sunday, and so far it has been running great. All I know is that I'm not going back to the same mechanic again